I just returned from a two day conference on Witchcraft Branding,
Spirit Possession and Safeguarding African Children. The conference was
organized in London by a UK based charity, Africans United Against Child
Abused (AFRUCA).

The aim of the conference was to mobilize the faith communities
against the practice of witchcraft branding by highlighting the negative
impact of this phenomenon and the belief in spirit possession on
African children in the UK and in Africa.

According to the organisers, ‘The conference will explore the issue
of the branding children as witches in all its dimensions looking at
different factors underlying the phenomenon, its impact, different
policies and strategies to tackle this growing problem. A focus will be
put on the importance of religious beliefs given the role the faith
organisations can play in enforcing the recommendations that will come
out of the conference’.

Personally I was fascinated by the theme of the conference. I was
delighted to know that another international child rights NGO had taken
up the fight against witch hunting in the region. For me the conference
's objective was a tall order. In fact I had my doubts as to how far
the conference could go in addressing this important topic. Because
Africa is a deeply religious society. And very often, faith, dogma and
tradition trump human rights whenever issues concerning Africa are
discussed . Faith or better religion is at the root of most problems
that plague the continent including that of witchcraft accusation. Sadly
many Africans are reluctant to acknowledge this. Many more people in
the region are unwilling to challenge religious doctrines, traditions
and practices particularly when they conflict with reason, science and
common sense. Many Africans do not want to question or be seen to be
criticizing the dogmas of witchcraft belief. They often refrain from
demanding evidence or proof of witchcraft claims. Many christians in
Africa find justification for witchcraft related abuse in the bible
which they believe to be the literal word of God.

But I must say that the conference succeeded beyond my expectation.
Representatives of various governmental and non govermental
organisations including the UK government, the goverments of Congo DRC,
Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria made presentations highlighting how they were
responding to the problem. Many non governmental organsations, faith
and community based groups like Stepping Stones, Congolese Family
Centre, African Health and Policy Network, the International Humanist
and Ethical Union were also present and shared their thoughts, insights
and strategies of addressing the problem. Also at the conference were
representatives of Unicef and the National Human Rights Commission of
Nigeria, scholars, researchers and activists in the area of child
rights, care and protection in the UK and in Africa. There was also a
screening of the award winning film the’Witches of Gambaga’. Gambaga is a
village in the northern region of Ghana in West Africa where mainly
women accused of witchcraft take refuge. This 'witch camp' has been in
existence for over a century. Recently there have been calls for the
camp to be closed down. But there are concerns over this initiative
because sending the women back to the communities they fled could be
sending back to be murdered.

Generally, there was free and open debate on the issue of witchcraft
branding and spirit possesion. And I contributed a lot to the debate
and some times provoked and championed it. Some church leaders and
other witchcraft believers at the event were visibly uncomfortable with
comments critical of witchcraft.

As I expected many participants were reluctant to discuss and
actually declare witchcraft and the belief in spirit possession as
superstitious. The representative of Unicef said the agency was not
interested in changing the belief but in addressing the abuses that are
committed as a result of the belief. But that is where Unicef got it
wrong. Getting Africans to understand that witchcraft is superstition is
not changing the belief but clearing and clarifying a fundamental
misconception at the root of witchcraft branding. And Unicef should not
shy away from this important responsibility. Africans brand their
children witches and subsequently abuse them because they believe these
children have magical powers which they use to cause harm, death and
diseases in families and communities.

Unicef needs needs to answer these questions: Do children have
magical powers? Do children fly out at night as birds or spirits to meet
in covens where they suck blood or plot harm? Can a child be possessed
by the spirit of witchcraft(whatever that means)? Can a child cause
accident, inflict harm or misfortune on anyone using 'magical' means?
Last year, Unicef released a report on witchcraft accusation of children
in Africa. The study focused on the complexity and diversity of the
problem of witchcraft accusation in the region. But is that the issue?
No.

I drew the attention of the representative of Unicef and other
participants to the fact that as long as we refrained from challenging
and ascertaining the veracity of witchcraft claims, we were only
treating the symptom not the disease. But I must say that one of the
child rights groups at the event, Stepping Stones Nigeria was in
agreement with me on this. They stated in their presentation that
challenging the belief in witchcraft was one of their strategies to
combat this cultural scourge. I hope Unicef and other agencies would
adopt the same strategy too.

So the two days were quite stimulating and I have every reason to say
that we are making some progress in the campaign against witchcraft
accusations in Africa. Even though a lot of work is still to be done. A
lot of public enlightenment is required to eradicate this social menace.
Fortunately I met some activists from Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda and other
parts of Africa who were in agreement with this and who were ready to
partner us in the campaign against witchcraft in the region.